Seamless stitching of patterns formed by interference lithography
First Claim
1. A method for stitch alignment, tiling and printing of patterns on a substrate, the method comprising:
- (a) providing a substrate wherein the substrate has a photosensitive surface capable of exhibiting a photo bleaching effect;
(b) positioning the substrate such that an original position of the substrate is established;
(c) creating a first pattern at a first region of the substrate by image exposure by radiation onto the photosensitive surface of a selected region of the substrate surface wherein the first pattern creates a post-exposure impression of the first pattern in the form of bleaching and thereby creating a reflection or transmission mask in the photosensitive surface;
(d) positioning the substrate such that a second position of the substrate is established for forming a second pattern at a second region of the substrate substantially adjacent to the first pattern wherein the second pattern creates a pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern on the photosensitive surface forming a partially overlapping region between the post-exposure impression of the first pattern and the pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern;
(e) measuring reflected or transmitted radiation of the post-exposure impression of the first pattern and the pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern within one or more overlapping regions, wherein the radiation reflection or transmission is measured by one or more photo-detectors;
(f) determining the degree of stitch alignment between the post-exposure impression of the first pattern and the pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern within one or more overlapping regions;
(g) adjusting the alignment based on the measured intensity of the reflected radiation, transmitted radiation or both until new images of the first and second regions are aligned using the post-exposure impression as a relative position reference;
wherein the post exposures create base patterns at a plurality of partially overlapping tiled positions.
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Abstract
This invention addresses the scalability problem of periodic “nanostructured” surface treatments such as those formed by interference lithography. A novel but simple method is described that achieves seamless stitching of nanostructure surface textures at the pattern exposure level. The described tiling approach will enable scaling up of coherent nanostructured surfaces to arbitrary area sizes. Such a large form factor nanotechnology will be essential for fabricating large aperture, coherent diffractive elements. Other applications include high performance, antiglare/antireflection and smudge resistant Motheye treatments for display products such as PDA'"'"'s, laptop computers, large screen TV'"'"'s, cockpit canopies, instrument panels, missile and targeting domes, and, more recently, “negative-index” surfaces. Although ideal for seamless stitching of nanometer scale patterns, the technology is broadly applicable to any situation where an arbitrarily large area needs to be seamlessly tiled with a smaller base pattern that has periodic overlap able boundaries.
26 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method for stitch alignment, tiling and printing of patterns on a substrate, the method comprising:
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(a) providing a substrate wherein the substrate has a photosensitive surface capable of exhibiting a photo bleaching effect; (b) positioning the substrate such that an original position of the substrate is established; (c) creating a first pattern at a first region of the substrate by image exposure by radiation onto the photosensitive surface of a selected region of the substrate surface wherein the first pattern creates a post-exposure impression of the first pattern in the form of bleaching and thereby creating a reflection or transmission mask in the photosensitive surface; (d) positioning the substrate such that a second position of the substrate is established for forming a second pattern at a second region of the substrate substantially adjacent to the first pattern wherein the second pattern creates a pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern on the photosensitive surface forming a partially overlapping region between the post-exposure impression of the first pattern and the pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern; (e) measuring reflected or transmitted radiation of the post-exposure impression of the first pattern and the pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern within one or more overlapping regions, wherein the radiation reflection or transmission is measured by one or more photo-detectors; (f) determining the degree of stitch alignment between the post-exposure impression of the first pattern and the pre-exposure pattern of the second pattern within one or more overlapping regions; (g) adjusting the alignment based on the measured intensity of the reflected radiation, transmitted radiation or both until new images of the first and second regions are aligned using the post-exposure impression as a relative position reference; wherein the post exposures create base patterns at a plurality of partially overlapping tiled positions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification